With the continuous development of semiconductor technologies, the sizes of the integrated circuits (ICs) have been continuously reduced; and the performance of the semiconductor device has been continuously improved.
To reduce effect of external environments on the semiconductor devices in a chip, a seal ring structure is often formed around the semiconductor devices in the chip. To allow the seal ring structure to be able to reduce the stress generated by the external environments to the semiconductor devices, the seal ring structure often includes a metal structure.
In a packaging process of the chip, semiconductor devices may be electrically connected with the printed circuit board, or electrically connected with semiconductor devices in another chip, by conductive wires. The conductive wires thus need to cross over the seal ring structure to connect with the semiconductor devices in the chip.
Specifically, the packaging process may include forming semiconductor devices, such as transistors, etc., on a semiconductor substrate; forming an interconnect structure electrically connecting the semiconductor devices; forming solder pads on the interconnect structure; forming solder balls on the solder pads. The conductive wires electrically connect the semiconductor devices with the printed circuit board through the solder balls, or electrically connect the semiconductor devices in two chips together through the solder balls.
However, the performance of the semiconductor structure may be easily affected by conventional fabrication methods. The disclosed methods and semiconductor structures are directed to solve one or more problems set forth above and other problems in the art.